


Setting the Anchor

by datalaur



Series: Deus ex Machina [1]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Asimov books, Bookish!Bruce, Brothers, Childhood, Gen, Internalized Homophobia, Mother-Son Relationship, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 16:42:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22499254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/datalaur/pseuds/datalaur
Summary: Set in 2324 on Earth.  Third grader Bruce Maddox receives a life-changing book about robots.
Relationships: Bruce Maddox & OMC, Bruce Maddox & R. Daneel Olivaw
Series: Deus ex Machina [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1595050
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a summary I saw of _Picard_ S1E2, _Maps and Legends_ , which refers to _The Complete Robot_ from Bruce's library. I gotta go sign up for the Access channel.
> 
> Also a nod to explicitly_fandroid for the adults-only story, [ Robots and Electronic Brains](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13352106), which also mentions Bruce's love of robot books. Please mind that story's warnings!

Not-quite-seven Bruce loves his teacher. 

Last week, Mr. Jakande made Federico stop knocking him down at recess. Mr. Jakande had scooped Bruce up in his strong arms and took him inside and set him right on the teacher's big desk. Then he got out the regenerator to fix Bruce's black eye and bloody knee. 

And after the blood and tears and snot were all cleaned up, Mr. Jakande smiled his big smile, dazzling white against his dark skin. "All right now, _akibo_?" 

Bruce lifted his chin like he was supposed to and said he was fine, but maybe not convincingly enough because Mr. Jakande asked if he would like to spend some time in the quiet room with a book. 

Anyway when Mr. Jakande asked him what kind of book he wanted, Bruce wasn't sure. So Mr. Jakande said he noticed that Bruce always drew machines and schematics during art so would he like a book on machines? Bruce told him yes because his mom is an engineer and she builds cool stuff and sometimes she lets him help design circuits and assemble components for her projects!

Mr. Jakande laughed his big deep laugh and typed in Bruce's name and some parameters. That brought up a screenful of book covers. The bright yellow one immediately attracted Bruce's attention so he tapped on the thumbnail.

At first Bruce couldn't take his eyes off the handsome man with his shirt falling off. But then he noticed the man had an access port in his abdomen and it was _full of machinery_! And there were funny dancing robots!

"You like this one?" the teacher asked but then Bruce noticed the title and had to tell Mr. Jakande he wasn't allowed naughty things. 

Mr. Jakande said _The Naked Sun_ wasn't a naughty book at all; it would have been filtered out. So kids at his reading level were allowed, and Mr. Jakande said it was about a detective and his robot partner and they had to work together to solve crimes! Bruce was so happy that he threw his arms around his teacher, and Mr. Jakande laughed with surprised pleasure as he approved the replication.

The best part was that Mr. Jakande told him that after recess, he didn't even have to rejoin the class for math if he didn't want to, because even though he's much younger than his classmates, Bruce has the best marks in math in his entire grade.

Alone in the quiet room, Bruce settled down in his favorite chair, the squashy blue one in the back corner. After he looked at the handsome yellow man on the cover for a while, Bruce opened the book and began to read.

_Later that night...._

Please do not copy or repost without permission.  
Artist: [harleysart](https://harleysart.tumblr.com/)


	2. Chapter 2

"Mom! I'm trying to read and Brett's bothering me!" Bruce yells, loud enough to be heard downstairs.

"Do I have to come up there? Because if I do, it's lights out time for both of you!"

Bruce bites his lip in frustration. He's supposed to get an extra 45 minutes after Brett's bedtime because he's bigger. But if he complains, mom will just say 'then act like it'.

His five year old brother, Brett, sticks out his tongue. "You read boring books! And everyone says you're a tattletale and a crybaby!"

"Anthony's a bully and we're _supposed_ to tell on bullies. Mr. Jakande says so. And Anthony got into trouble, not me. So there!" 

Bruce picks up _The Caves of Steel_ again. "If you settle down, I'll read to you. I have a new book about Lije and Daneel."

"No," Brett yells. "That's boring. I want Starfleet stories. I want _Captain Kirk versus The Gorn_!"

"Come on, Brett, I just read that to you the other day."

"Then _Captain Kirk versus the Nazis!_ " 

"I don't like that one. How about _Scotty Saves The Day Again_?"

" _Captain Kirk and The Cloaking Device!_ " Brett bounces angrily on the edge of Bruce's bed.

"Stop it, you're bothering Shadow." Bruce pets the annoyed black cat but he gets up anyway and stalks off. "Now look what you did. We're supposed to be extra careful with Shadow because he's getting old and he needs his rest. Mom said."

Brett fiddles with the edge of the blanket. "Is Shadow going to die like Aunt Mary?"

Bruce isn't sure how to answer that. Aunt Mary wasn't old. Something happened on her away mission but he doesn't know what, only that she died. Finally he just says, "No," so Brett won't worry.

"When is Daddy coming home?"

"Maybe next month. It's a secret mission so Daddy wasn't allowed to say how long." 

Brett starts getting under the covers, so Bruce scoots over to make room. He rolls on his side to face his little brother, who's putting his thumb in his mouth. "Brett, you're not allowed."

He thinks Brett is going to cry so he tries to think of something. Then he has a good idea; a short story he had read in class that afternoon, when he'd been first to finish the programming exercise. It was from _The Complete Robot,_ which Mr. Jakande had given him too. The story's title had caught his interest right away: _A Boy's Best Friend._

"I could read you a story about a little boy on the moon and his squeaky robot dog. Jimmy and Robutt. You'll like it."

Brett giggles. "Butt."

"Butt," Bruce giggles back.

*****

Shadow is curled in his arms, purring hard against his chest, and Brett is snug against his back. It's very quiet inside, and even the wild animals in the big woods around the old wooden house are quiet. 

Bruce doesn't feel like reading any more. His mind is chewing over the setting of the first two Detective Lije Baley and Robot Daneel books. Reading them out of order meant Bruce hadn't realized how really bad things were on Earth, until he got into _The Caves of Steel_ tonight. Bruce is glad he didn't start reading it to Brett. 

Lije's Earth never had First Contact Day. Humans only have fifty worlds, including Earth. There's no Vulcan. No Federation and no Starfleet. Earth is backward, its growing population struggling to survive and everyone's so afraid of losing their jobs to robots. But the Spacer worlds are full of advanced robots, and Spacers don't want dirty immigrants from Earth even though their worlds are underpopulated. 

The two sides mostly hate each other. The fifty planets don't have any enemies like the Romulans, though. If they had, they all would've had to pull together to have any hope of survival. Actually, Bruce realizes, the Earthers kind of need an enemy like the Romulans to force societal growth.

It makes Bruce feel weird to think there could be a reality where Romulans might be a good thing. Before Bruce was born, the Romulans blew up Grandpa Stephen's ship, and they destroyed the colony where great-aunt Jeri and great-uncle Tomas and both their families lived. 

He's glad there is a Neutral Zone now to keep the Romulans away. Mostly away. Dad mentions them sometimes to Mom when he thinks Bruce isn't listening. Bruce wonders uneasily if maybe it was Romulans that got Aunt Mary on her away mission. If maybe they hurt Aunt Mary first.

He doesn't want to think any more about that, so he pets Shadow, who stretches with claws out and then pushes his heinie up for scratches. Bruce laughs when Shadow starts rubbing his muzzle against his face. The whiskers tickle. But then Shadow has had enough; he jumps off the bed and wanders off.

Bruce notices the yellow book on his bedtable and reaches for it. He turns it over and looks at R. Daneel on the cover, with its bare smooth muscley chest. He traces his finger over the edge of the shirt. He knows Daneel's synthetic skin is meant to be soft and warm.

It is very strange to think of a machine made just like a person, even beneath its underwear. It makes him feel funny that Lije looked at Daneel, while the robot was naked in the Personal facility. You're not supposed to look at other boys in the bathroom or locker room. It's definitely not allowed. Mom and Dad both said. And in the book, Lije knew he wasn't allowed to look at Daneel's private parts but he looked anyway. That was really bad of him.

Bruce studies the cover with Daneel again. In the second book, Lije said, _After all, one cannot love as a friend this Daneel Olivaw, who was not a man at all, but only a robot._

But then Jimmy didn't care if Robutt wasn't a real dog, but only a security robot dog meant to keep Jimmy safe. And even if Robutt couldn't really love Jimmy, the story said that what was most important was that Jimmy loved Robutt. 

So is it okay if Lije loves Daneel or not? Bruce doesn't know what to think.

Bruce wonders if Shadow loves him. He thinks so, but maybe it's only that he's the one that takes care of Shadow the most. But Shadow snuggles with Bruce when he's sad, and when he gets sick, Shadow always stays with him. Isn't that love? He knows he loves Shadow.

It's all too confusing, so Bruce lays the book aside and thinks about becoming a detective like Lije when he grows up. Surely Starfleet Security has detectives. He could solve crimes and save lots of people. He could have a robot best friend and program it to gather information and seek justice, just like Daneel.

Of course Bruce will have to make sure his robot doesn't do dumb things like Daneel did at the shoe store. Using the threat of a blaster to disperse a crowd angry about robot shoe clerks was a bad thing for a person to do, much less a robot like Daneel. Lije was right to be upset. Even if no one was shot and the riot prevented, Daneel really scared people; Bruce decides he will have to read again how the Three Laws work.

"Sweetie, what are you doing still awake? Does your tummy hurt again?" 

"No. I'm just thinking," Bruce replies, but Mom comes in his bedroom anyway. 

She brushes aside his dark bangs and touches the back of her hand to his forehead. "You need to get some sleep, night owl. It's nearly ten."

"Okay," he says, and rolls onto his side. He rubs his face on the pillow. It feels good.

"Bathroom first. You know the rules. Say your prayers and clean your teeth if you didn't earlier."

"I did after my bath. I'm not a baby," Bruce says as he gets up to head for the bathroom even though he doesn't even have to go. It's no use to protest that he's big, that he hasn't wet the bed in years. Brett still does sometimes, but he sleeps like a dropped rock. 

When he comes back in the room, Mom is sitting on the edge of his bed, frowning at the cover of the yellow book. At Daneel.

"What is this?"

"Mr. Jakande gave it to me," Bruce says defensively as he climbs back in bed. "It's a good book. It's about an Earth detective named Lije and his robot partner and how they solve crimes!" He doesn't say _murders_ , just in case that's not allowed either.

As she's tucking him in, Bruce tells her, "I'm going to be a detective too, Mom, but I need a robot partner for crimefighting. Only it has to look and talk like a real person. And it has to fight and help me arrest bad guys. Like Batman and Robin, but a better Robin. Can you help me build it?"

"That's a little too ambitious, sweetie." Mom gives him a kiss on the forehead. "Go to sleep now. Be my good boy."

As he settles in, Mom picks up Brett and takes him to pee before putting him in his own bed. The tired five-year-old starts crying, and that gets Bruce thinking again.

"I can get him back to sleep," Bruce calls to his mother, and opens up the covers. 

Brett stops fussing and climbs right in the warm bed, and cuddles up close to his big brother. Mom kisses the five-year-old goodnight.

"Mom, could we make a robot dog for Brett? I read him a story about one called Robutt tonight and he liked it. I think it might help him with Shadow when he, you know. And Robutt would be good for security. It wouldn't let us get lost in the woods, or if that bear or coyotes come near the house, Robutt could scare it off. Bad guys too. So can we build it?"

"That sounds doable, but it's after ten, mister. No more chit chat. And no grumpies in the morning when it's time to get up, all right?"

"All right. Good night, Mom." Bruce turns off the light. Soon, he is dreaming of robots.


End file.
